Group urges release of all church documents pertaining to abuse or the cover up of abuse.

And Grand jury investigations similar to the one just held in Pennsylvania be carried out in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC

WHAT

As Part of a Nation-wide response this weekend, Local clergy survivor groups and support organizations will be holding signs and childhood photos, to demand that Washington DC's top Catholic figure resign. They will also ask DC archdiocesan officials to:

Post the names of all the current and former accused child molesting clerics on church websites, and

Stop lobbying against efforts to reform "archaic, predator-friendly state laws." And instead support these legal reforms necessary for survivor justice that they claim to support

Urge State attorneys general across the DMV to launch investigations into their local dioceses,

Ask US Justice Department to launch a full-scale federal investigation into the systematic sex crimes and cover ups within the Catholic Church, and

Demand State lawmakers to extend statues of limitations and strengthen mandatory reporting laws to help deter future abuse and cover ups.

Noting that the MD Attorney General, Brian Frosh has asked victims and/or their family members to reach out to his office with emails, so he can be informed of clergy sex abuse cases in the state of Maryland. kmurphy@oag.state.md.us

Realizing that the time is now for the US Department of Justice action on this issue. Last week the group - along with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rightswrote to Deputy US Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. They're asking the DOJ to initiate “a full-scale, nationwide investigation into the systemic rape and sexual violence, and cover-ups in the Catholic church, and, where appropriate, bring criminal proceedings against the hierarchy that enabled the violations.

The PA grand jury concluded that “Over one thousand child victims were identifiable, from the church’s own records. SNAP believes that the real number – of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward – is in the thousands.”